A Visitor in the night

[Liqcrys]

Joff paused at the threshold to the young elf's room.  The tavern's walls barely held back the harsh cold of Land Sleep and the room doors were worn and old, the rushes on the floor dirty and in desperate need of changing. She had many reasons to be glad at their leaving Shattered Bridge, not least was to vacate this filthy tavern. Joff had needed to stay in Cliffside before, but always found the experience unpleasant. It was a good place to stay anonymous though. Unfortunately, the wizard's thunderous spell had ruined any hope they had of staying unknown to the authorities.  It wouldn't be long before word of the unusual activity in Whitehall and their subsequent sighting while trying to cross the river would make its way to the ears of someone important enough to care. Based on previous experience she gave them a day before the city watch would come to this tavern's doors, tossing aside the common room in search of two elves, a plainsman, and a human. An unusual group, not hard to pick out of the crowd. I need to get us moving before awkward questions are asked.  

Her hand poised to knock on the door. She worried about this tower they were heading toward. She wasn't entirely clear what they were going to accomplish at such a supposedly accursed place. In the past, when she needed to avoid those "awkward" questions, she had worried less about the destination and more on the leaving and then had charged into more than a few situations less than prepared. She hoped that her companions could provide a little more information on this tower, so that she could pick up a few things before they left. What are we actually going to do at the tower? Knock it down? What types of horrors and creatures are we likely to face? She thought again of the ghouls of Whitehall, the terrifying horde beating open the dark metal doors as they had fled on to the docks. Surrounded by holy water, and not one of us thought to fill a flask or two before we left. By the gods we were fools to go in like that. Joff's chin tightened as she ground her teeth with frustration and shame. That's not going to happen again if I can help it. I'll ask the others to tell me what they know of this tower one by one. Then I'm hitting the markets to load up with whatever is necessary. I'll start with Shiuske. He's a little more friendly than the others. Maybe he'll have some insights. She struck the door quietly, whispering against its soiled wood, "Lotus Clan, its Joff, let me in I'd like to talk."

OOC:
Hey man, sorry for the unannounced post on your thread. Just trying to figure out how to stage In-Character conversations in the forums, and this is my first attempt at establishing a protocol. If you want, just post your reactions and responses as replies in the thread, I'll do the same and we can talk IC at our leisure. If you want me to move the post, let me know and I'll gladly move it somewhere more to our agreeing.  Joff is just trying to figure out why we're going to the tower, and what we're going to do when we get there. Also would like to know what the group's history with the tower actually is. And what potential reward's are involved in the mission (magic library?). She was going to ask everyone one by one, just starting with Shiuske.
Author

[artisto16 (Shiuske)]

There's a portal in there. I promised myself that I'll come back when I've gotten better with using magic, and when I am able to actually do something about that portal. I wish I were able to destroy it, but at least I can close it for now; who knows what has already come through.

There's also a stone that I need to retrieve. There's a wizard's soul trapped in there. I think that wizard was at least keeping the demon trapped down there, but since that demon was set free, the wizard's sacrifice was in vein. At the very least, maybe we can set his soul free from the stone so he can rest in peace.

My throat is a bit dry from all that taking; I need a sip of water..... (reaches one of his filled waterskins...) oh wait, that one is filled with holy water, I need to save that to combat the evil we'll come across.

[Admin]

(A belated 100 xp each -plus interest)

[artisto16 (Shiuske)]

How naive was I? Turns out that the wizard trapped inside the stone was a most evil wizard indeed. I can't believe he even body swapped with the prince, and lured us to hell. At least we saved the prince and got out of there alive.

Unfortunately, we basically skipped forward 5 or 6 years and are now in a changed world, and that evil wizard's soul might be roaming free somewhere. I'm not sure we truly got rid of that evil genius.

Oh no, does the Lotus Clan know I'm still alive? Will they ever welcome me back? What has this time-jump done to my reputation? I hope my great deeds were not forgotten (although I hope other certain things were forgotten).

[Admin]

Well not much in the way of Lotus clan in Wolfesboro. In fact no High elven presence at all. An elf matching Thranduil's description was said to be offering "A pound of silver" for your spell books several seasons ago but he traveled on to Escandoor and that was before it passed back and forth several times. Asking around the inn renamed "The web" reveals this nugget:

"A wood elf hunter collecting the bounty on the beasts that inhabit the road to Shattered bridge comes through every fortnight or so with the claws. He might have news of your kind" the barkeep Sharla naively suggests. "Those beaked monstrosities have cleared out half the farms and breed like rabbits. The way he tells, even when they are dead they dont know it for half an hour and still tear you apart while they make up their mind about dying."

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